Maruti adds TBWA to creative family

Automobile bigwig Maruti has appointed TBWA as the creative partner for its genuine accessories business – Maruti Genuine Accessories (MGA). The win for the agency follows a multi-agency pitch. The size of the account is estimated to be Rs 8-10 crore.

Confirming the news to afaqs!, Mayank Pareek, executive officer, marketing and sales, Maruti Udyog, says, “The genuine accessories business is a totally different concept altogether. Looking for a fresh agency meant bringing in fresh ideas, apart from the creative work that we see for our vehicles.”

Pareek disagrees, saying, “We introduced Dentsu last year and Ogilvy India (then O&M) was brought on board some time back.”

Dentsu came in last year to take care of the Zen Estilo business, which was taken over from Ogilvy India (then O&M). Earlier this year, it also won the creative duties for Maruti’s small car, Splash.

Pareek maintains that the company believes in long, stable and sustainable relationships –which explains the limited number of agencies. “It's not like we do not consider getting new agencies - it's never been that way.”

The genuine accessories market stands at Rs 3,000-4,000 crore. With many auto companies having subsidiaries to look after the genuine accessories business, Maruti is the first to take an initiative to advertise about its offering.

Though MGA has been around for a long time, this is the first time that Maruti plans to take the advertising route to talk more about the brand.

Pareek claims that Maruti holds 30-40 per cent of the market share in the genuine accessories space. This area has a lot of grey market operators.

“This market is huge and an essential one in terms of getting companies and brands to tap the potential amongst consumers, as they realise the importance of genuine parts and understand that non-genuine parts can damage one's vehicles,” Pareek explains.